You ever build a movie up in your mind so much that when you finally see it, it can never ever live up to the hype? I just did watch one such movie. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a 2016 3D American fantasy superhero film featuring the DC Comics characters Batman and Superman, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is a follow-up to 2013’s Man of Steel and the second installment in the DC Extended Universe. The film is directed by Zack Snyder, with a screenplay written by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, and stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter and Gal Gadot. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is the first live-action film to feature both Batman and Superman, as well as the first theatrical film to feature live-action portrayals of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and the Flash. In the film, criminal genius Lex Luthor manipulates Batman into preemptively battling Superman.
Ok, so I went to the Cinepolis this afternoon after having booked an executive seat last night. I hadn’t known (or perhaps forgot) that this movie wals in 3D and I’m not really a fan of 3D but it was ok here. Now onto the film; this is a mess of a film to be honest. Let’s get one thing outta the way – the special effects and CGI is awesome. No doubt there, it’s spectacular. Except for some scenes where it kinda felt silly it was pretty good. But the story isn’t very good. So Bruce Wayne / Batman is pissed off at Superman because during the fight he had with General Zod several buildings were destroyed and a lot of people died including some of Wayne Industries employees who were close to Bruce. A little girl that is orphaned after her mom died in one of the destroyed buildings only reinforces to Bruce that Superman is bad for humanity. Ofcourse while Batman kills a bunch of baddies, causes chaos on the streets in his tank of a vehicle and destroys a bunch of real estate later, he conveniently does not relate this to his hatred of the Sup.
Superman, not the one I’ve grown up with and loved in the 4 movies that Christopher Reeves played him in (ok, first three) is a moody and dour personality dude who is either loved or feared by the general public. But why does Lex Luthor (portrayed like a maniacal nutjob by Jesse Eissenberg) hate Superman so much? He setsup several incidents to portray the universe’s most famous Kryptonian in a bad light including an attack in the middle east desert where several innocents were killed plus also masterminds a bombing that kills dozens of people, including Finch. The public blames the bombing on Superman, who goes into self-imposed exile. Luthor initial convinces Senator June Finch to help him recover kryptonite from Zod’s failed terraforming attempt from the Indian Ocean. Finch later stonewalls Lex’s efforts to use Zod’s DNA and the Kryptonian scout ship recovered from the battle to create a biological weapon. Bruce infiltrates a fundraiser promoted by Luthor to retrieve data from LexCorp’s mainframe, but his drive is stolen by mysterious antiques dealer Diana Prince, who learns that Luthor has files on herself, as well as individuals with superhuman speed (Flash), a cybernetic body (Cyborg), and a man that lives underwater (Aquaman).
Wayne learns not only of Luthor’s experiments with kryptonite, but also his ongoing investigation about metahumans including Prince herself, who is an immortal warrior. Batman attempts to retrieve Luthor’s kryptonite, but is intercepted by Superman, who orders him to cease his activities. Batman retrieves the kryptonite and prepares to launch a strike against Superman; building a powerful exoskeleton and kryptonite-powered arsenal. With Batman now having the kryptonite, Luthor activates the Genesis Chamber aboard the scout ship and splices his own DNA and Zod’s. Luthor endangers Superman’s love interest Lois Lane to lure him to LexCorp Tower, where he reveals that he has been aware of Superman’s secrets for some time. Lex blackmails Superman into confronting Batman by holding his adoptive mother Martha hostage in a warehouse. Sup and a bulked up Batman duke it out and the Bat nearly kills Superman with a kryptonite spear. Superman pleads for Batman to “save Martha”, which was also the latter’s late mother’s name, causing him to come to his senses and realize Superman is not a threat! What? So if his “enemy”‘s mother has the same name as his own, suddenly Batman decides that Superman is his newest BFF? How stupid!
Batman leaves to rescue Martha while Superman confronts Luthor, who unleashes a monstrous artificially bred creature (Doomsday) made with Kryptonian technology on the crashed ship. Superman and Batman join forces to fight him and are aided by an arriving Prince in her Amazonian attire, but are outmatched due to the creature’s ability to absorb and redirect energy. Realizing that their shared Kryptonian DNA results in shared vulnerabilities, Superman retrieves the kryptonite spear and sacrifices himself to impale the creature with it, while the creature stabs Superman with his bone protrusions, seemingly killing him. As the movie ends, there is a memorial for Superman in Metropolis using an empty casket and a military burial. In Kansas Wayne, Lane, Martha, and Prince attend a private ceremony in Smallville. Martha passes an envelope to Lois, which contains an engagement ring from Clark to Lois. After the funeral, Wayne reveals to Prince that he plans to form a team (Justice League) from Luthor’s file subjects to protect the world in Superman’s absence. Later, a faint heartbeat begins echoing from Superman’s grave and the dirt around it begins to levitate. Meaning, he will rise again!
Batman also warns Lex, who is now shaved bald and in prison that he will be watching him but Lex seems to be on the verge of a mental breakdown. The whole Batman vs Superman thing seems so superficial and how they finally team up is really dumb! Gal Gadot looks superb as Wonder Woman and I would love to see more of her in this role. She is also rather gorgeous. Ben Affleck, despite misgivings and that dumb explanations, does really well as an older Batman/Bruce Wayne (he is 43 and the oldest actor to play the Bat). The film is told in bits and pieces and the whole storyline is not very palatable. I think they could have come up with better and more sensible way to patch things up between the two main superheroes. The first half is rather dull and boring in parts while the second is a boombastic, CGI & effects laden, action packed fun ride. The film will probably make big bucks. I give it a 7 outta 10!